Kenneth Mullen

Young men, masculinity and alcohol

Over the last ten years we have witnessed a great increase in writing on the nature of masculinity and the development of the concept of multiple masculinities, but much of this material has been speculative and highly theoretical. The related work linking masculinities to alcohol has often had a psychometric slant. The current paper aims to show the wider relevance of new theoretical ideas on masculinities to alcohol consumption among young men. Specifically: to describe the social context of drinking and drunkenness among a sample of young men living in Greater Glasgow, and to analyse the masculine role component of such contemporary drinking cultures. A qualitative methodology was used. Ten focus groups and twelve in-depth ‘life-trajectory’ interviews were completed. Respondents were aged between 16 and 24 years. We discovered that the social context of male drinking is changing very rapidly and masculinities are being redefined. While there remains some evidence of traditional masculine drinking norms and alcohol use, the increasing diversity of drinking locations and alcohol products are instrumental in achieving new expressions of male identity among young men.

Irish descent, religion and food consumption in the west of Scotland☆

Mortality and morbidity of people of Irish descent in Britain is high, including from cardiovascular causes potentially linked with diet. The west of Scotland has long had a pattern of Irish migration, where migrants were poorer than the host population, and their different religious background gave rise to prolonged discrimination. This paper uses data collected in 1987/88 from the west of Scotland Twenty-07 study to test whether dietary differences due to poverty or to other factors have persisted among the descendents of these migrants. Being born of Catholic parents was the index of Irish descent used, these respondents consumed less of a factor represented by fruit, yoghurt and vegetables, and more of one represented by snacks and processed foods than the rest of the sample. The picture for those reporting current Catholic affiliation in adulthood was similar. Differences are largely associated with social class and mediated not by low income but by educational disadvantage. The findings suggest the continuation of a diet affected by limited opportunities for social mobility, and thus by obstacles to sustained educational advancement, among the descendants of Irish migrants even after several generations.

The Effect of Religion and Religiosity on Drug Use Among a Selected Sample of Post Secondary Students in Scotland

Background: some studies suggest that religious variables are associated with substance use and abuse however, they tend to be compartmentalized into alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs. Few have examined both licit and illicit drugs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns of licit and illicit recreational drug use among post-secondary students in terms of religious background and religiosity. Method: the Queensland Alcohol and Drug Study Questionnaire was completed by students attending courses in “helping profession” departments such as medicine, nursing, education, and psychology from 22 departments at universities and colleges in five Scottish cities. The sample consisted of 3117 females and 949 males. Results: among female students a higher percent (p <. 05) who were Not Religious consumed over 14 drinks per week (55.5 vs 36.2%), tobacco (43.3 vs 29.3%), marijuana (32.4 vs 15.1%), amphetamines (8.4 vs 4.1%), LSD (7.4 vs 2.9%), and Ecstasy (4.8 vs 2.1%) compared to those who were Ver...

Religion and attitudes towards alcohol use in the Western Isles

Research on religion and alcohol has produced conclusive results with regard to the relationship between religion and alcohol consumption but ambiguous findings with regard to more general attitudes towards alcohol use. This paper considers these issues in depth by a secondary analysis of data collected in the Western Isles of Scotland. It finds that differences between Protestants and Catholics do exist: Protestants are more likely to endorse an abstinent position, while Catholics are more permissive in their attitudes towards drinking. In terms of attitudes towards drunkenness, however, differences between the two groups are slight. The paper concludes by giving data on differences in attitudes towards alcoholism and service use and calls for future studies in the area to take the cultural context of these issues into account.

Attempted cessation of heroin use among men approaching mid-life

Aims: To analyse the reasons for ceasing or continuing heroin use in mid-life and examine the contribution of drug treatment and social factors to this process. Methods: A semi-structured qualitative interview discussing drug-using history was conducted with Glasgow men who had previously received treatment for drug problems. Findings: Successful cessation occurred after repeated attempts and repeated treatments, often in the context of major life changes. Relapse occurred because of quitting without adequate mental preparation; returning to old haunts and life circumstances, life difficulties, the tedium of a life without heroin, and inability to cope with normal emotions previously blocked by heroin use. Mens lives could be understood as a set of tensions between the deviant subculture of heroin injecting and the conventional neighbourhood. The balance of these tensions affected mens behaviour and generally there needed to be both a push away from the subculture and a pull towards the neighbourhood for long-term cessation to occur. Conclusions: Treatment of heroin dependence may be better regarded as the management of a chronic problem, rather than as a single intervention with a quantifiable outcome. Treatment needs to consider both the benefits and problems of heroin use and the benefits and problems of conventional living.

Understanding "revolving door" patients in general practice: a qualitative study

Background‘Revolving door’ patients in general practice are repeatedly removed from general practitioners’ (GP) lists. This paper reports a qualitative portion of the first mixed methods study of these marginalised patients.MethodsWe conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with six practitioner services staff and six GPs in Scotland, utilizing Charmazian grounded theory to characterise ‘revolving door’ patients and their impact from professionals’ perspectives.Results‘Revolving door’ patients were reported as having three necessary characteristics; they had unreasonable expectations, exhibited inappropriate behaviours and had unmet health needs. A range of boundary breaches were reported too when ‘revolving door’ patients interacted with NHS staff.ConclusionsWe utilise the ‘sensitising concepts’ of legitimacy by drawing on literature about ‘good and bad’ patients and ‘dirty work designations.’ We relate these to the core work of general practice and explore the role that medical and moral schemas have in how health service professionals understand and work with ‘revolving door’ patients. We suggest this may have wider relevance for the problem doctor patient relationship literature.

Smoking in Adolescence: Images and Identities

book appealing for students, researchers and practitioners alike, not least the clear writing style. A large amount of research is covered throughout the chapters, and the inclusion of research findings from a number of countries gives the book an international flavour. Further, the author has drawn upon a range of literature, including studies from mainstream psychology, social psychology, women’s studies, sociology, and anthropology. The contention that a psychology of women’s health needs to be broader than the study of individual women is reinforced throughout all the chapters. The focus remains on social factors, their interaction with psychological constructs, and their relationships with women’s well-being. However, looking at women’s health from the ‘perspective of the social construction of womanhood’ (p. 4) automatically raises fundamental tensions between research paradigms. These are especially important for this book, as it reviews a large amount of empirical research evidence which begins from a different epistemological standpoint than feminist research. Tensions exist between psychology and feminist science, psychology and social constructionism, and indeed across different types of feminism. To her credit, in defining different feminist approaches to science in her first chapter, Christina Lee acknowledges such tensions and describes why they exist, and returns to this point in the final chapter, where she also considers alternative approaches to scientific epistemology. The tension between psychology’s traditional focus on the individual, and this book’s focus on social context, is also acknowledged in the text. This becomes particularly problematic in certain areas of women’s health, such as eating-disorders, where psychological analyses focus on a small number of disturbed individuals (compared to a ‘normal’ majority) in contrast to sociological perspectives which look at the nature of the society which produces these maladaptive behaviours. As it is pointed out in the chapter on eating disorders, the use of evidence from psychology, social psychology, sociology and anthropology is often problematic as often it cannot be reconciled. The author’s view is that by comparing alternative views a more comprehensive (but maybe not internally consistent) description of these issues may emerge. Though some may disagree (and others may be wary that this is an empirical search for an underlying truth), it is made clear that social factors are essential to consider if there is to be change, or if we want to ‘make a difference’, as the final chapter is titled. I believe ‘Women’s Health: Psychological and Social Perspectives’ has a great deal to offer students, academics and practitioners in health and clinical psychology, as well as people working in women’s studies, sociology, and social work. It is a thought-provoking text which left me feeling invigorated about carrying out research in this field. Furthermore, it demonstrates how valuable feminist, social constructionist approaches are in identifying those social and cultural factors that influence women’s lives, women’s health, and more broadly, research into these topics.

Theological and Sociological Accounts of a Buddhist Meditation Practice: illusory bodies

Abstract Techniques of mental visualisation, and the visualisation of the body of the Buddha in particular, are central to many Buddhist meditation practices. The article begins with a description of a Tibetan meditation centred on the visualisation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. This is followed by two accounts of the meaning of this practice: first as elucidated within the Buddhist theological/philosophical framework, and second, from a sociological standpoint. Core elements of the Buddhist philosophy of the body underpinning this practice are elucidated: ideas relating to the provisional nature of reality, interdependence and the central concept of the mutability of the self. Recent theorising within the sociology of the body views the self as being charged with emotions, discusses body image, and aims to deconstruct our notions of materiality. The article draws out the similarities between aspects of Buddhist theology/philosophy and current sociological thinking about the body.

The beliefs and attitudes of a group of men in mid-life towards tobacco use

This paper considers the attitudes and beliefs of a group of men in mid-life, living in the city of Glasgow, towards smoking. Utilising an ethnographic interviewing technique it explores, in depth, issues which have been highlighted by earlier studies using more prevalent social-science questionnaire methods. The findings corroborate those of other studies particularly with regard to the reasons as to why people smoke, and the clear association between high levels of smoking and drinking. It goes further, however, in showing the importance of social forces in these issues. Changes in the strength of anti-smoking feelings in the general population, how work and leisure relate to smoking, the importance of breaks in daily routine for giving up smoking, and how the round sharing of cigarettes influences the pace and quantity of cigarettes smoked, are discussed.